Pickaxes in Windrose are the gatekeepers to almost every metal progression step, from early Copper deposits on your starting island to Foothills Iron veins further out in the archipelago. Three tiers are craftable in the current early access build: Stone, Copper, and Iron. A fourth Swamp Pickaxe exists in the game files but is not yet accessible in-game.
Pickaxe tiers and crafting recipes
All three pickaxes are made at the Workbench, the same crafting station you unlock within the first few minutes of the game. The Workbench itself costs 5 Wood and can be placed outside the Bonfire radius, but higher-tier recipes require upgrades tied to your base.
| Pickaxe | Materials | Station | Mines |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stone Pickaxe | 3 Stone, 3 Wood | Workbench (Lvl 1) | Stone, Copper Ore |
| Copper Pickaxe | 5 Copper Ingot, 5 Wood | Workbench (Lvl 1) | Stone, Copper, Foothills Iron Ore |
| Iron Pickaxe | 5 Foothills Iron Ingot, 5 Wood | Workbench (Lvl 2) | All current mineable nodes |
Stone Pickaxe
The Stone Pickaxe is your starter tool and the only pickaxe you can realistically build in your first play session. Three pieces of Stone and three Wood are all that stand between you and your first Copper node. Stone is collected by picking up loose rocks on the ground or breaking small boulders with bare hands or a stone weapon; Wood comes from chopping trees with a Stone Axe or any melee weapon.
It handles Stone and Copper deposits reliably but struggles with anything heavier. As soon as you have surplus Copper Ingots, move on.
Copper Pickaxe
The Copper Pickaxe is the practical mid-game tool, and, in the current build, it is also the tool that unlocks iron progression. Crafting it requires 5 Copper Ingot and 5 Wood at the Workbench. Copper Ingots are smelted at a Smelting Furnace using 4 Copper Ore + 1 Charcoal per ingot.
Despite its name suggesting a ceiling, the Copper Pickaxe can mine Foothills Iron Ore. This matters because iron recipes in the Smelting Furnace and the Workbench only unlock after you have physically mined a Foothills Iron Ore node. Players who kept swinging a Stone Pickaxe at iron veins often find their smelter still only shows the Copper Ingot recipe because no iron node has been broken.
Iron Pickaxe
The Iron Pickaxe is the top-tier mining tool currently in the game. The recipe calls for 5 Foothills Iron Ingot and 5 Wood, and it only appears in the Workbench crafting list once the bench is upgraded to Level 2.
To reach Workbench Level 2, you need to place a Sawhorse inside the same Bonfire radius as your Workbench. The Sawhorse itself costs 20 Wood and 10 Copper Ingot. Iron Ingots come from the Smelting Furnace at a ratio of 3 Foothills Iron Ore + 1 Charcoal per ingot.
Once crafted, the Iron Pickaxe mines every current node type faster than the Copper variant and pairs well with the Major Prospector Ring for additional yield on metal gathering.
How Workbench level 2 works
Windrose upgrades crafting stations through proximity add-ons rather than a linear menu upgrade. The Sawhorse is the single add-on required to bump the Workbench from Level 1 to Level 2, which is what surfaces the Iron Pickaxe, Iron Axe, Anvil, Wooden Plank, and Simple Fishing Rod recipes.
Both the Workbench and the Sawhorse must sit inside the same Bonfire glow radius. They do not need to touch or share a roof, they just need to share the fire. A single Sawhorse applies its upgrade to every Workbench within that radius, so there is no reason to craft multiples.
Recipe unlock conditions
Recipes in Windrose are gated by discovery, not by story beats alone. Picking up or mining a new raw material is what reveals the corresponding crafting recipe.
| Recipe | Unlock trigger |
|---|---|
| Stone Pickaxe | Available from the start at any Workbench |
| Copper Pickaxe | Smelt your first Copper Ingot |
| Iron Pickaxe | Mine a Foothills Iron Ore node and upgrade Workbench to Lvl 2 via Sawhorse |
If the Foothills Iron Ingot recipe is missing from your Smelting Furnace even though iron ore is in your chest, you have not actually broken a Foothills Iron node yourself. Looting ore from a camp crate is not enough; the game flags the recipe only when the resource is harvested from a world node.
The Swamp Pickaxe status
A fourth pickaxe referred to as the Swamp Pickaxe exists in the game's data files but has no in-game crafting recipe or drop source at the moment. It is tied to the Cursed Swamps biome, which currently houses mechanics like the Wood Plague and the Chick-Chan boss encountered during the Fate of the Prophets quest. Expect it to surface in a future content update; until then, the Iron Pickaxe is the functional ceiling.
Fast progression path
Step 1: Place a Workbench near your starting bonfire and craft the Stone Pickaxe using 3 Stone and 3 Wood. Use it to break Copper Ore deposits on the starter island.
Step 2: Build a Smelting Furnace (15 Clay, 30 Stone) and a Charcoal Kiln (25 Wood, 20 Clay). Smelt Copper Ingots at 4 ore + 1 charcoal each until you have at least 5, then craft the Copper Pickaxe.
Step 3: Progress the main story, defeat the first boss, and sail to the Foothills biome. Mine Foothills Iron Ore nodes directly with your Copper Pickaxe to register the iron recipes.
Step 4: Craft a Sawhorse (20 Wood, 10 Copper Ingot) inside your Bonfire radius to upgrade the Workbench to Level 2. Smelt 5 Foothills Iron Ingots and craft the Iron Pickaxe.
That covers every mining tool currently available. Keep an eye on the Cursed Swamps region as updates roll out, since that is where the unreleased Swamp Pickaxe and its associated iron-plus tier are expected to land.